Nicholas Gibson

Contact Nicholas: nicholasgibson@matrixlaw.co.uk | +44 (0)20 7404 3447

Contact Nicholas's Practice Team (Team X): TeamX@matrixlaw.co.uk

Nicholas has experience of diverse commercial and public law matters, with particular interests in commercial disputes and civil fraud matters (including injunctions), competition, the digital economy, economic regulation (particularly in energy, financial services, telecoms and transport), tax, State aid, public procurement and general EU law, consumer credit and other consumer protection legislation, and human rights.

• In 2021/22, Nicholas was shortlisted as Competition Junior of the Year for the Legal 500 Bar Awards.
• In 2018/19, Nicholas won EU/Competition Junior of the Year at the Legal 500 UK Awards.
• In 2017/18, Nicholas was shortlisted as EU/Competition Junior of the Year for the Legal 500 UK Awards.
• In 2016, Nicholas was recommended by Who’s Who Legal as one of three leading juniors at the UK competition bar.
• In 2015, Nicholas was the only barrister selected by Global Competition Review in the ‘40 under 40’ list of top young antitrust lawyers worldwide.
• In 2014, Nicholas was identified by Legal Week as one of ten ‘Stars at the Bar’ recognised for his exceptional abilities in practice at the commercial bar, and described by those instructing him as “intellectually outstanding”, “switched on” and “phenomenally hard-working and conscientious, with great attention to detail”.

Since arriving at Matrix, Nicholas has been instructed by a range of clients in both the public and private sectors, regularly advising major UK companies and multinational businesses as well as government departments and regulators including Ofgem, the ORR, the Competition and Markets Authority (and previously, the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading), the Department for Transport, HMRC and the Home Office. Nicholas was appointed to the Attorney General’s B Panel in 2016, having previously been appointed to the C Panel in 2012. In addition to his work as a junior at all levels of the court system up to the UK Supreme Court, Nicholas has appeared unled in the Court of Appeal, the High Court (the Chancery Division, Queen’s Bench Division, Commercial Court, Technology and Construction Court, and Administrative Court), the Crown Court, the Competition Appeal Tribunal, the First-tier Tribunal, the Employment Tribunal and the County Court, as well as in LCIA arbitration.  He has also advised and prepared written submissions unled for clients in the European Court of Human Rights.

Nicholas is a member of the Bar of England and Wales, and the Bar of Ireland.

Nicholas is also the National Reporter General for the Competition Law Association, and a member of the Joint Working Party of the Bars and Law Societies of the UK on Competition Law, of the Committee of the Bar European Group, and of the Consulting Editorial Board of LexisPSL Competition. Nicholas is also a member of COMBAR and ALBA.

Commercial Law

Nicholas has advised major financial institutions and leading companies across a range of industry sectors on diverse commercial matters with particular experience of civil fraud cases, urgent injunctions and commercial claims based on breach of EU/competition law, both as a solicitor at Freshfields for seven and a half years and since moving to the Bar. Nicholas’s commercial experience includes acting in high-value and complex commercial disputes in the Commercial Court, Chancery Division, QBD and the Technology and Construction Court, in commercial judicial review challenges in the Administrative Court and the Competition Appeal Tribunal, and in the context of commercial arbitration.

Recent and notable examples of his experience in this area of practice are available here.

Competition and Regulation

Nicholas has a wide-ranging competition law and economic regulation practice.  He is ranked ‘tier 1’ by Legal 500 and was awarded ‘Competition Law Junior of the Year’ by Legal 500 in 2019, and is also recognised as a leading junior by Chambers & Partners and Who’s Who Legal for his work in both competition law and telecoms regulation.  Over the years, he has gained extensive experience of investigations into alleged breaches of EU and UK competition law and/or sectoral regulation, accumulated from advising all parties involved in the process (including regulators, complainants, and firms suspected of wrongdoing) from start to finish, including the preparation of a regulatory complaint, attendance at ‘dawn raids’, advice on ‘leniency’ applications, document and information requests, interviews, procedural rights, the drafting of a statement of objection, the access to file process, responding to a statement of objection, directors’ disqualification matters, and appeals.

The CMA (and formerly the OFT) and Ofgem have instructed him in both civil and criminal cartel matters, including applications for search warrants. His Art 101/Chapter I practice also includes follow-on damages claims (including claims under the CAT’s collective proceedings regime), and advisory work on matters including information exchange, franchising, distribution arrangements and other vertical restraints. Nicholas co-wrote the chapter on Art 102 for the leading practitioner text Bellamy & Child, and has a strong practice in this area with particular experience in margin squeezing and dominance issues arising in the context of utilities regulation.  He has also advised on diverse other competition law and trade matters, including market investigations under Part 4 of the Enterprise Act 2002, State aid, public procurement, and anti-dumping measures; and competition issues arising in commercial disputes, in commercial judicial review, and in criminal prosecutions.

Nicholas also advises both regulators and regulated entities in various sectors including the digital sector, energy, financial services, telecoms and transport.

• In the digital sector, he has advised on the CMA’s online platforms and digital advertising market study, the work of the Digital Markets Taskforce, the establishment of the Digital Markets Unit, and on similar matters before the European Commission (including the Google (Android) remedies, the Google/Fitbit merger, the Digital Markets Act, etc.), as well as providing advice to leading technology companies on various competition law issues.
• In the energy sector, he has advised on a Competition Act 1998 investigation, the targeted charging review significant code review, and the capacity market auction process, among other issues.
• In financial services, he has advised on various matters relating to authorisation, licensing, compliance and enforcement, and on complaints to the Financial Ombudsman.
• In telecoms, his practice encompasses regulatory matters (particularly price control appeals under the Communications Act 2003), investigation pursuant to concurrent Competition Act 1998 powers, and general commercial litigation involving telecoms businesses.
• In the transport sector, he has acted in judicial reviews and advised regulators and businesses in relation to matters involving air transport, buses, rail travel and taxi services. However, he has a particular focus on rail regulation where he has advised on disputes between regulated persons in both the passenger and rail freight sectors, the periodic review process, and on various issues including in relation to HS1, HS2, Crossrail, fares reform, smart ticketing, ‘delay repay’ and the application of consumer law in the rail sector.

Recent and notable examples of his experience in this area of practice are available here.

Nicholas is co-author of the chapter on Article 102 TFEU in Bellamy & Child: European Union Law of Competition (7th edition, 2013; 8th edition, 2018), and contributor to UK Competition Law: The New Framework (1st edition, 2015).

Nicholas is also National Reporter General for the Competition Law Association, and a member of the Joint Working Party of the Bars and Law Societies of the UK on Competition Law, of the Committee of the Bar European Group, and of the Consulting Editorial Board of LexisPSL Competition.

EU Law

EU law permeates every aspect of Nicholas’s commercial and public law practice, with particular focus on competition law and sectoral regulation derived from EU law (energy, financial services, telecoms, transport).  Nicholas also regularly advises clients in the private and public sectors on other EU law issues including State aid, public procurement, consumer protection matters, Francovich damages claims, and VAT and anti-dumping legislation.

Recent and notable examples of his experience in this area of practice are available here.

Public Law and Human Rights

Nicholas has a wide-ranging administrative and public law practice with a commercial focus, advising for and against public bodies on challenges to local and central government, and in respect of the decisions of competition authorities and specialist sectoral regulators.

In addition to general public law and human rights advice, Nicholas’s work in this area covers challenges both under the general jurisdiction of the Administrative Court and before the Competition Appeal Tribunal under the specialist judicial review regimes created by the Enterprise Act 2002 and the Communications Act 2003, and on further appeals to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.  Nicholas has also advised on applications to the European Court of Human Rights, and on human rights issues under EU law including the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Recent and notable examples of his experience in this area of practice are available here.

Nicholas has also taught and written on human rights issues, as visiting lecturer on the LLM course Human Rights: Theory & Practice at King’s College, London, and as a contributor to the Cambridge Law Journal, and the European Human Rights Law Review.

Prior to becoming a solicitor, Nicholas spent time working in the Middle East for the United Nations and other non-governmental organisations on policy and legal matters, including issues of public international law and human rights.

Telecommunications

Nicholas’s sectoral telecoms and technology expertise is a natural extension of his experience in competition, EU and commercial law.

Nicholas has advised clients in the digital sector on the CMA’s online platforms and digital advertising market study, the work of the Digital Markets Taskforce, the establishment of the Digital Markets Unit, and on similar matters before the European Commission (including the Google (Android) remedies, the Google/Fitbit merger, the Digital Markets Act, etc.), as well as providing advice to leading technology companies on various competition law issues.

His regulatory telecoms practice is a particular strength, having been instructed in five successive appeals against price controls set by Ofcom under the Communications Act 2003, including successfully defending the Competition Commission against challenges in both the CAT and the Court of Appeal.  Nicholas’s telecoms and technology practice also includes acting for both private and State parties in commercial disputes and in the context of Ofcom investigations under Competition Act 1998 and Communications Act 2003.

Recent and notable examples of his experience in this area of practice are available here.

Previous experience

Before moving to Matrix in 2009, Nicholas worked for seven and a half years at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, where on qualification he practised as an associate and solicitor-advocate in the firm’s Dispute Resolution department specialising in competition, commercial, EU and public law.  During his time as a solicitor, Nicholas advised regulators, major financial institutions and leading companies across a range of industry sectors, as well as acting pro bono for clients in various tribunals.

Nicholas also spent the judicial year 2007 to 2008 working as Judicial Assistant to Lord Bingham of Cornhill and Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe at the House of Lords.

Prior to becoming a solicitor, Nicholas spent time working in the Middle East for the United Nations and other non-governmental organisations on policy and legal matters, including issues of public international law and human rights.

Professional qualifications

• 2020: Called to the Bar of Ireland
• 2016: Appointed to the Attorney General’s B Panel
• 2012: Appointed to the Attorney General’s C Panel
• 2009: Called to the Bar of England and Wales as a transferring solicitor-advocate (exempted from all service of pupillage)
• 2004 – 2009: Qualified as a solicitor-advocate (England and Wales, all courts)
• 2002 – 2004: Qualified as solicitor (England and Wales)

Academic qualifications

• 2006: King’s College, University of London, LLM (European Law), Distinction (studying part-time while working full-time at Freshfields)
• 2001: Nottingham Law School, Legal Practice Course, Distinction
• 2000: Nottingham Law School, Post-graduate Diploma in Law (PgDL), Distinction (top mark in the year)
• 1998: Pembroke College, Cambridge University, BA (Hons) History, Double First (Tripos Parts I and II)

Languages

Nicholas speaks fluent French, having spent six months working in a bilingual office environment in Paris during his solicitor training contract, and has a good working knowledge of Spanish and spoken Arabic.

Publications, Articles and Downloads

Nicholas has lectured and written widely on matters within his expertise, including as visiting lecturer on the LLM course Human Rights: Theory & Practice at King’s College, London, and as a contributor to key practitioner texts, the Cambridge Law Journal, the European Human Rights Law Review and the ukscblog.com and eutopialaw.com blogs, including the publications set out below:

• Contributor: Bellamy & Child: European Union Law of Competition (8th edition, 2018; 7th edition, 2013) – chapter on Art. 102 TFEU (abuse of a dominant position).
• Contributor: UK Competition Law: The New Framework (1st edition, 2015) – chapter on private enforcement of competition law.
• Article: Right to Education in Conformity with Philosophical Convictions: Lautsi v Italy
• Article: Faith in the Courts: Religious Dress and Human Rights

Nicholas is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. In order to provide legal services to his clients, including advice and representation services, Nicholas needs to collect and hold personal data. This includes his client’s personal data and the personal data of others who feature in the matter upon which he is instructed. To read Nicholas’ privacy notice in full, please see here.

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